BEVERLY HILLS, January 10, (THEWILL) – The Tinubu Magistrate’s Court, Lagos, has granted Unmi Fatima Bolori, ex-wife of Aminu Atiku, full custody of their children after Aminu failed to file a response to her application for child custody.
Chief Magistrate Ayeye ordered Aminu to pay Bolori N250, 000 monthly for the upkeep of the children and ordered him to carry out medical insurance on the children among others.
Bolori’s November 2017 application for child custody proposed a nine-point ‘statement of arrangement’ for the children and was argued by her counsel, Gloria Albert-Ekpe (Mrs.) and Ethel Okoh from Festus Keyamo Chambers.
She sought the court to order Aminu to pay her N300,000,00 monthly as feeding and maintenance allowance for the kids’ upkeep and N1million yearly as their clothing allowance.
She also sought an order restraining Aminu from taking the kids outside the shores of Nigeria for any purpose whatsoever without her consent.
At the resumed hearing of the matter yesterday, neither Aminu nor his legal team was present to announce appearance and had failed to file a response.
To this end, the Chief Magistrate delivered his ruling: “The respondent failed to file a response. In view of the deliberate absence of the respondent and his legal team, I am constrained to make these following orders in default of respondent’s presence and in the best interest of the children to wit:
“Unmi Fatima Bolori is hereby granted full custody of Aamir Abubakar Sadiq Aminu Atiku (seven years) and Ameera Amina Atiku (nine years).
“The applicant is allowed to reside with the children at her residence at Katampe Extension, Abuja.
“The applicant is ordered to put the children in schools suited for their educational needs in Abuja.
“Access is granted to the respondent to visit his children in Abuja and request for the children to spend holidays with him.
“The respondent is ordered to pay monthly upkeep for the children in the amount ofN250, 000.00 monthly beginning January 2018.
“The Respondent is ordered to effect medical insurance on each of the children.”
However, there was a mild drama when Aminu and his legal team arrived at the courtroom at around 1pm when the proceedings were practically over.
Bolori claimed that Aminu, son of former Vice President Abubakar Atiku, having lost custody of his children, snatched Aamir, their son, and drove off with him.
According to Bolori’s counsel Okoh, Aminu snatched his son from the mum, locked him in his car before driving off and had refused to hand over his son to her client.
Bolori, daughter of Maiduguri businessman Alhaji Bukar Bolori, and Aminu got married in Ghana in 2007, but they separated in 2011 leading to a legal battle over custody of their two children.
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